Multiparametric MRI Protocol for Brain Tumors

All patients received diagnostic work-up MRI consisting of fast-spin echo T₂-weighted images and a diffusion weighted sequence. The T₂-weighted images were obtained in the sagittal and transversal direction, as well as perpendicular to the tumour axis (axial, or oblique-axial), with repetition time (TR) = 2820–3040 ms, echo time (TE) 80 ms, slice thickness = 2.5 mm, number of averages = 6 and echo train length = 20. In addition, the patients underwent a multi-echo dynamic contrast enhanced sequence with an exogenous contrast agent (Dotarem 279.3 mg/mL, Guerbet Roissy, France). This sequence was obtained as a 3D multishot EPI sequence with three echoes, echo times = 4.6, 13.9, 23.2 ms, repetition time = 39 ms, and flip angle 39°, time resolution varied between 1.9 and 2.5 s. The acquired matrix size was 92 × 90 over a 180 × 180 field of view and a 10 mm slice thickness with the image plane the same as the T₂-weighted axial or oblique-axial image. The MRI was performed on a Philips Achieva 1.5 T system (Philips Healthcare, Best, the Netherlands). More details of the MRI sequences have been published earlier [15] (link).